Writing in Snow

Superhero

Istiqlál (Independence), 7 Jalál (Glory), 147 BE - Friday, April 14, 2017 CE

Superheroes

In the superhero costumes,
superheroes are larger then life
able to leap
the Lakhta Center, in St. Petersburg, Russia
in a single bound.

In their everyday clothes
some of them
are just everyday people
attempting to hold down a job
and make ends meet
while being interrupted
by super-villains
who want to destroy the world
and then set themselves up
as post-apocalypse dictators.

Other superheroes
are rich bastards
who don't know how the poor
or middle class live;
who don't need to worry
about making a living
or ends meeting
because they inherited
their material wealth
from a rich ancestor.

I want a real superhero
who's worried about being homeless
because he just lost his
non-superhero job
for being late because
he can't tell his boss
he's late
because he had to do superhero stuff
before coming to work.

I want a superhero
who doesn't have to find
a telephone booth
to change from his ordinary
clothes into his superhero uniform
or visa versa.

I want a superhero
who lives in the ghetto,
who has to use a SNAP card
to purchase food.

I want a superhero
who isn't larger then life,
who makes stupid mistakes,
who doesn't have a fortress of solitude
and who acts like
an ordinary human being.